As chief executive of Cablevision Systems Corporation, James L. Dolan oversees the company's extensive telecommunications and entertainment businesses. Under his direction, Cablevision is one of the nation's largest operators of cable television systems, developing and delivering the benefits of broadband and digital communications to its customers.

Positioned at the forefront of New York's entertainment industry, Cablevision's telecommunications offerings consist of its Optimum Online high-speed Internet service, its iO: Interactive Optimum digital television offering, Optimum Voice digital voice-over-cable service, and its Optimum Lightpath business communications services. Cablevision's portfolio of operations also includes Rainbow Media's national and regional television program networks, Madison Square Garden and its professional sports teams, and the world famous Radio City Music Hall.

Mr. Dolan also serves as chairman of Madison Square Garden where he presides over the day-to-day operations of its many business units, including the world-famous arena complex, professional sports teams -- the New York Knicks, Rangers and Liberty, the MSG network, Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theatre.

Prior to assuming his present post at Cablevision, Mr. Dolan amassed more than three decades of experience in the management of cable systems, cable programming and advertising.

In the early 1990s, Mr. Dolan served for three years as chief executive officer of Rainbow Programming Holdings, Inc. (now Rainbow Media Holdings LLC), a subsidiary of Cablevision and a leader in the development of niche programming. At Rainbow, Mr. Dolan oversaw all facets of the business, which today operates multiple entertainment, news and sports networks reaching millions of households in the United States and abroad.

Throughout the 1980s, Mr. Dolan was a major force in the creation and management of Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation, a division of Rainbow and one of the first cable advertising sales companies in the country. The advertising division grew dramatically under his leadership, and today it is the nation's leading regional and national spot cable sales organization.

In the early 1980s, as a Cablevision vice president, Mr. Dolan also created and managed WKNR-AM, Cleveland's first all-sports talk radio station -- and now one of the city's most popular stations. At the same time, he oversaw the launch of the weekly television magazine Total. Mr. Dolan began his career with Cablevision in the 1970s in the Plainview, N.Y. cable system.

Mr. Dolan is a member of the board of directors of Cablevision Systems Corporation and serves on its executive committee. He is a member of the board of directors of the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, an organization he helped found in 1998. The Lustgarten Foundation is the nation's largest private, not-for-profit supporter of the fight against pancreatic cancer.

Mr. Dolan enjoys sailing and is an avid musician. He and his wife, Kristin, reside on Long Island.